Bill's Write Up Continued (Back)
We launched a little after 9:00 into a building breeze from the
northwest. Once we got out away from the land it turned out to be
nice trapping breeze, and by the time the first race got underway at
10:00 it had built into Gen-U-Ine Heavy Air. National Airport
observations pegged the wind at 17-20 mph sustained, with a maximum
gust of 28. I think it was a bit less than that downriver where we
were, perhaps 14-17 with gusts maybe 19-22, and the occasional lull of
8-10. As Charlie said afterwards, though, heavy air on the upper
Potomac is a far sight different than heavy air in Tidewater --
nothing about that shifty/gusty breeze was "sustained."
Two boats decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and
called it quits before the first start. The rest of us duked it
out
on a long double-sausage racecourse (with an upwind finish) that had
nearly Nationals-length beats. The first race was incredibly
competitive. Tom and Jocelyn Ballantine, sailing a beautiful
new-looking 710, won the start, anthey went left while the others went
right, apparently towards better air. Charlie and John McCoy led
at
the first rounding, followed by Stephen Propst with Steve Kistler on
the trap. The two leaders did a jibe-set, heading out towards the
apparently favored side of the course, while Carnell and Florio stayed
on starboard. At the leeward mark 723 had pulled into the lead,
but
Charlie managed to pull back ahead on the second beat. No places
were
gained or lost on the second run, and we stayed in the same order
through the upwind finish: 514, followed by 723, 712, and 710.
The wind continued to build into the second race. As someone later
said, it wasn't so much that the sustained winds increased, it was
really that the gusts got more sustained, and the lulls pretty much
disappeared. Ballantines again won the start, and again they went
left/middle while the others went right. As we got up towards the
mark, a gust came that was also a big header; everyone tacked and
found that we had all overstood. Cracking off about 15 degrees, we
hopped up over the bow wave and went screaming into the mark on an
upwind plane, like posse of 505s. The run was about as hairy as
any
I've known. We planed through most of it, though we were going
almost
dead downwind. . . .and then the race ended for me.
Here's what happened, which I present as a cautionary tale. As we
approached the leeward mark, we had to jibe onto starboard to make it.
We were already unstable as the boat was going about at hull speed,
sort of on and off a plane, and we had the centerboard almost all the
way up -- just had that little skeg in the water. As we went to
jibe,
the main was so loaded up that we couldn't bring it over, and I "fell
off" to make it easier, until we were really sailing by the lee (and
would be on a low reach on the new jibe). When we brought the main
over, it didn't go all the way out because I had a fair bit of vang
on. The boat instantly heeled up, causing the chine to dig in and
take us further towards the wind (and away from the safety zone).
The
the boom hit the water, causing the main to load up even more, and we
were over onto our side and into the 55 degree river. The capsize
literally happened in a split second. In retrospect we should have
been using more centerboard, for stability, and less vang. I also
should have fallen off as the boom was coming over, rather than
letting us be at all perpendicular to the wind on the new jibe. We
turtled instantly but after a difficult and very cold time we were
able to recover eventually with the help of a couple of powerboats,
and 723 is none the worse for wear, except for an ugly badge of mud on
the main.
514 went on the win the race, followed by 710, while 712 decided to
make for the safety of shore.
We re-grouped on shore for grilled steaks and plenty of cold beer.
And today, we're finding all those wonderful aches and bruises that
tell us that it's sailing season again, and that we just survived an
awesome heavy air regatta.
Congratulations to Charlie McCoy on winning the 2005 Doc Gilbert
Potomac Cup Regatta.
Final Standings:
1. 514 McCoy/McCoy
2. 710 Ballantine/Ballantine
3. 723 Carnell/Florio
4. 712 Propst/Kistler